The present invention relates to devices for travelling over virgin or packed snow, either uphill, or downhill, or on the flat, as well as for traversing.
The devices used at the present time are of several kinds: snowshoes allow step by step walking, avoiding any sliding, but limit the travel to slopes of less than 18.degree.; apprenticeship is easy, but use thereof is relatively fastidious and their possibilities limited--long distance skis, a ski narrow and long having a width less than 5 cm and a length of about 1.8 m, can be used on the flat or on limited uphill and downhill slopes; the long distance ski is difficult to use on non packed snow, for which it requires a long and fastidious apprenticeship--downhill skis are relatively wider and shorter, having a width of about 7 cm and a length of about 1.8 m for the long skis and about 1.5 m for the compact skis, are adapted only for downhill runs. They require a long and fastidious apprenticeship, sophisticated equipment such as special shoes, and relatively sporting abilities on the part of the user. They can be used for going uphill by fitting a removable antislip skin under the sole of the ski. Uphill use is limited to slopes less than about 25.degree..
It can be seen that each of the known devices is precisely adapted for a particular use, downhill, on the flat or uphill running. All these devices have limits of use which prevent use thereof by the largest number of users without particular physical ability.
Recently, attempts have been made to make downhill skis accessible to the largest number, by reducing their length and increasing their width, thus providing compact skis having a length of about 1.5 m and a width of 8 to 9 cm, which are easier to use. However it has been discovered that, after the first craze, users gradually chose longer skis more adapted to use on a tamped ski run.